If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Please note that posts from new users are now moderated. If you have just joined this forum and post a new message it will be held in the moderation queue until a member of staff approves it. Please be patient and our staff will review your submission as soon as possible.

Re: word stress

Well, fancy that! That has always been known as putting the stress on the syllables! For my purposes word stress is putting the stress on a particular word in a sentence.
I would argue that the site you pointed me to can lead to more confusion. What is wrong with 'syllable'?

Re: word stress

Ours not to reason why. I think the British Council know what they are talking about. They are some of the world's leading experts in teaching English, after all.

In most text books and reference works, 'word stress' is used to talk about the stress patterns within an individual word. (banana, television) - as you say, apex2000, some teachers just call this underlining the stressed syllable.
'Sentence stress' is used to talk about the stress patterns within a whole sentence or phrase (I can walk but I can'trun.'). It's a harder thing to teach than word stress, because the stressed words in a sentence can change according to what the speaker wants to say.

For teaching word stress in the classroom, I think it's worth getting students into the habit of everytime they meet a new word, recording where the stressed syllables fall. Dedicating whole lessons to the area often just depresses and confuses classes, so just do little and often.

Re: word stress

I would not put too much reliance upon any government department or quango to get it right. They always assume that they are right if only because they are there!! If they really were so expert there would not be any need for anyone else to bother.
I bet they've never heard of Fowler.
It raises a curious point - just who do they teach? Wherever I have been around the world I have never heard the name mentioned, in relation to teaching English, but they always crop up around business and economics discussions which is where I would expect them to be.

Re: word stress

The British Council are a professional and highly regarded body of English teachers with excellent schools in many major cities. They pay higher than other language schools, treat their teachers with respect and take their professionalism extremely seriously. I don't work for them, and I never have, but in English language teaching circles they are considered to be at the forefront of innovative and well researched methodology and teaching practices.

If you want to know more about them, have a look at their homepage, associated with the BBC's teaching site.

Re: word stress

Ah yes. The body that was formed as an organ for international propaganda? Cultural imperialism or just a gentle almost unnoticed invasion? Selling UK Ltd?

It is, of course, all these things and whilst I do not doubt that it employs teachers of English - which has been an important outcome in helping English to become the lingua franca in so many areas around the world - it covers a very much wider range of objectives, especially since its nadir after the Berrill Report. I can now remember Callaghan talking about it when he used his usual dismissive smile as if to suggest that it was not really worthy of his (political) time. Fortunately, he was wrong on that as in so much else.

I can understand your viewpoint, being in teaching yourself at present, but as one who has seen a bit more than just teaching and English in particular, plus going back to WW2, I still maintain what I believe to be a healthy scepticism about the activities of many of these public bodies.